Every day, more than 6,000 mobile applications are published on Apple Store and Google Play. Some of these mobile applications are social networks. Many are games, and others are for e-commerce. No matter what the app is, if it was built professionally, it should adhere to the typical mobile app development process.
It is important to note that every app might not follow the exact same process as the next as new methodologies are continually emerging. However, the seven-step-process we are about to elaborate on is relatively standard for mobile app development. From experience, this is what works for us at Reinvently.com, but you can adjust it to suit your strategy.
Forming The Idea
Your ingenious idea, although brilliant, might not be fulfilling a pressing need. Your idea can turn into a mobile app that’s a smashing hit if it solves a genuine problem and targets a particular audience.
When you’ve narrowed down a feasible idea, done your market research, and determined a suitable audience, browse similar apps on the app stores. This way, you will find what is missing that you can provide and understand the competition better. The next thing to do is create a timeline with fixed goals and set benchmarks to achieving them.
Design Stage
After the idea, strategy, target audience, timeline and budget are fixed, storyboarding is a great way to kick off the design stage.in storyboarding, you visualize how each page on the app will look. Aim to have a unique user interface (UI) that does not compromise the user experience (UE). Make sure each screen you visualize aligns with the primary objective and experiment with them for maximum functionality plus aesthetics.
After settling on the look, the feel and features, decide the API’s you need for your app. Y now you can tell if you’ll build from scratch or use the architecture base of an already existing app. Finally, you will create a prototype to help you check functionality and flaws. This is the foundation on which your app will be built.
Development And Iteration
During mobile app development, you will go through the following stages:
- Alpha stage: this is the development of your apps core functionality. It is full of glitches, bugs, and errors, as no testing is done.
- Beta stage: here, the functions and features of your app are incorporated and lightly tested. The app can now be shared with a handful of people for testing as only minimal flaws remain.
- Release stage: this comes after a series of thorough testing and bug sweeping. The app can finally be released to the public.
- Mobile App Testing
No amount of mobile testing is ever enough, and all of it is worth it for your users’ pleasure. Test every feature and all phases, ensuring they align with the original plan. Carry out the following tests at every iteration:
- Performance test to provide the lowest response time for every task.
- Usability test to determine navigation and ease of use.
- Regression test to repeatedly test every feature in every phase.
- Functional test to confirm that features are working according to requirement.
- Fit and finish test to ensure all app screens and features align with the original vision.
- Device-specific test to see how the app performs on different OS, screens, and gadgets.
- User acceptance test is target market testing to receive feedback about all app features.
- Launching the app
This is the most critical stage in mobile app development. If your app launch fails, all the effort, money, time, and resources spent from the beginning are a waste. The primary goal here is always to get download numbers up. For all of this to work, you need:
- App store optimization so your app is adequately represented on the store.
- Pre-Launch and beta testers for initial download surge.
- High ranking SEO for your app and the website of your app.
- Your websites landing page linked to your app on the app store.
- Influencer marketing to help spread the word.
- Paid promotions across social media to supplement organic reach.
- After launch Monitoring
A successful start is not the end of the line. You must ensure that analytics, monitoring, social media listening, interaction with reviews, and bug fixes are not taken for granted afterward.
Additional Iteration And Improvement
A lot of apps are never truly finished. All that data collected from the post-launch stage must be acted upon. Repeat parts of the development process as necessary using the information you have.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that both Android and IOS development can be quite overwhelming. You have to put a lot of commitment into the process, including significant investments of money, time and other resources. However, if you diligently follow through on every step from identifying the need and ensuring quality control through to post-launch improvements, the exhaustive process will be worth it in the end.
